A collection of the religious poems of Tadhg Óg Ó Huiginn written chiefly by Eoghan Carrach Ó Siaghail (folio 6 recto). Eoghan Carrach is the scribe of a poem in Bodleian MS. Laud Misc. 615, page 129, and of Franciscan MS. A 8, written for Niall Óg Ó Néill during 1532-1545 (Dillon, Mooney and de Brún, ‘Catalogue of Irish manuscripts in the Franciscan Library, Killiney’, page 16; cf. Plummer ‘On the colophons and marginalia of Irish scribes’, page 17).

The manuscript was completed for him by two anonymous scribes, referred to below as A and B. There are four vestigial paper flyleaves, folios 2-3 and their conjuncts folios 14-15. Of these, the only substantial one, folio 2, was written on prior to being reduced to its present size; the remainder, despite being much smaller, clearly were not, as the writing on them is vertical. The conjuncts of vellum folios 12 and 13 are also vestigial; they are now folios 3a and 3b. The following is an attempt to distinguish the many non-scribal hands which appear on these flyleaves and elsewhere.

C. John O Morisone, cf. Eóin Óg Ó Muirgheasáin (flourished 1626), see Macdonald ‘An elegy for Ruaidhrí Mór’, page 27, and Black “Poems by Maol Domhnaigh Ó Muirgheasáin”, page 195. Red-brown ink.

D. James Beaton (hand K of Adv.MS.72.1.33). Grey-black ink.

E. Niall MacMhuirich. Blue ink.

F. A good Gaelic hand. Anonymous. Brown ink.

G. Edward Fleming. Grey-black ink. (There is a pedigree of the Flemings of Derry in Scottish Record Office GD 50/218, John MacGregor collection.)

H. John Beaton. Brown-black ink. Cf. hand 68 of Adv.MS.72.1.2.

I. Neil Beaton. J. Andrew Beaton.

K. Anonymous scribbles.

L. Neat Gaelic hand. Anonymous. Bluish ink.

M. Malcolm Beaton. Grey-black ink.

N. Neat hand. Anonymous. Red-brown ink.

O. Bold hand. Anonymous. Grey-black ink.

P. Anonymous. Gaelic hand related in style to D. Grey-black ink. Hand of folios 4-11 is Eoghan Carrach’s, except where mentioned.

The contents are as follows.

(i) Cover, see above. Folio 1 recto: ‘Ja..’ (hand D). (Folio 1.)

(ii) Paper leaf, originally oblong quarto, but with outer portion irregularly torn away, and upper corner mouse-eaten: now 17 x 17 centimetres maximum. Many of the texts on it are therefore imperfect. (Folio 2.)

(iii) Hand C: (a) ‘James Biettone: Contra: Johne o morisone is my name and for to shaw I thinke no shame James bettonne is my freinde’. (b) ‘James biette’. (c) ‘James bitton’. (d) ‘J J J’. (e) ‘James Biettonne / Johne o morisone’. (f) ‘a b c d e f g’. (g) Vestiges of Gaelic script in perished top-right corner. (h) ‘Lest my fre………’

(iv) Hand D: (a) ‘James bietonne it his my neame and for to writh I thinke not shame sopos my not faer I hawe binne short whayll at the Larne’. (b) ‘At artw ye xvi day sep’. Hand K imitates ‘At artw ye’. (c) ‘At artw ye xvi day of septembere it is ..... betwix laucland mc donald mc nell and n...’ In a more faded ink are: (d) ‘Icmccccs bcccctccncccc’ (i.e. James Betone). (e) ‘James be’ (in imitation of hand C (b) above. (f) ‘Hone... Syr and...’ (top right corner).

(v) Hand E: (a) ‘The man is bles’. (b) ‘neill mc mwrich with my at the pen’. (c) ‘James / Jo’ (in imitation of hand C (e) above).

(vi) Hand F: (a) ‘Ni bfuil feidhm aguinn air fion’, 3 quatrains. (b) ‘At artw ye…..’ (in imitation of hand D (b) above).

(vii) Hand G, upside down: ‘James’. (Folio 2 recto.)Hand D: fragment, apparently verse, ending ‘buig mar blaith na gcrann’ (in perished top-left corner).

(viii) Hand G: ‘Deanna a Criost mo choimhed’, 1 quatrain. “Dia maille reit a f[ir] an leab[uir] so as fada leam n[ach] bhf[uil] tú ag teacht dod tirse sguiream go lá / Edward Fleming with me han”. Cf. folio 6 verso.Hand C(?): ‘... some I regeard tell ... doeth my heart ... / ... humble petition of ...(l)on o Morisone: The the right reverend father in God john by the devine providence Lord bishopp of derry / ... Sir: ... farre from ...’ (Folio 2 verso.)

(ix) Paper leaf, 17 x 4 centimetres. (Folio 3.)

(x) Hand C(?): (a) ‘Some gillia / she is feare whom’. (b) ‘Some’. (c) ‘Somgill...’ (xi) Hand G: (a) ‘Dea Deana Criost mo comed’, 1 quatrain. (b) ‘In dei’. (c) ‘Cionnus sin a fphin’, 1 quatrain. (Folio 3 recto.)

(xii) Folio 3 verso blank.

(xiii) Irregular vellum fragment, 7 x 4 centimetres, maximum. (Folio 3 a.)

(xiv) Hand H: (a) ‘Johne’. (b) ‘ffoyne’ (?). (Folio 3a recto.) (xv) Hand I: ‘….pub ….. to me Neill McVey’ (Folio 3a verso.)

(xvi) Irregular vellum fragment, 9.5 x 1.5 centimetres, maximum. (Folio 3b.)

(xvii) Hand H: ‘Macolmus mcphe...’ (Folio 3b recto.)Folio 3b verso.

(xviii) “Tadhg Óg. Gabh mh’ eignech, a Eóin baisdi”, 28 quatrains. Folio 4 recto, margin: scribal addition, largely illegible; it does not appear to be part of the text. Hand C(?) subscribes a name (?), erased. (Folio 4 recto.)

(xix) ‘Fearg an choimdhi re cloinn Adhuim’, 29 quatrains. (Folio 4 verso, middle of the page.)

(xx) “Tadhg Óg. Ag so bragha dheit a Dhe”, 34 quatrains. Folio 5 verso, margin, hand B: “Torum a mbéul binn ar mo theanguidh”, 1 quatrain. (Folio 5 verso.)

(xxi) ‘Nama ceird muna cleachtar’, 1 quatrain. Followed by ‘Misi Eogan Carruch O Siagail do graibh fin’. (Folio 6 recto, last line.)

(xxii) “Tadhg Óg. Tagair red mac, a Mhuire”, 36 quatrains. Folio 6 verso, margin, hand G: ‘Go chuire Dia slan f[ear] an leab[air] so chuiguin don tiorse amen .i. Semus Beattene. Meise Edward Flemyng’. Folio 7 recto, margin, hand J: ‘...adhill . o Ghiollainndris mac Domhnaill mhic Eoin’. (Folio 6 verso.)

(xxiii) ‘Aighi mhisi ac mathair Dhe’, 30 quatrains. (Folio 7 verso.)

(xxiv) “Tadhg Óg. Tairg mo mhunadh, a Mhuire”, 38 quatrains. Folio 9 recto, margin: 1½ quatrains, indistinct, hand B; hand K adds ‘…..mc Domnall’. (Folio 8 recto, bottom of the page.)

(xxv) [Tadhg Óg]. ‘Tene arna fadadh fearg De’, 40 quatrains. Folio 10 recto, margin: hand K, illegible. (Folio 9 recto, bottom of the page.)

(xxvi) [Tadhg Óg]. ‘Imdha rod direch go Dia’, 42 quatrains. Folio 10 verso, margin, hand B: ‘...bi a mheic ar mo’, cf. folio 9 recto, margin. (Folio 10 verso.)

(xxvii) [Tadhg Óg]. ‘Beag nach tainic mo terma’, 45 quatrains. Re-inked in places. Continued at folio 12 recto by hand A, then at folio 12 verso by B; finished by A. (Folio 11 verso, middle of the page.)

(xxviii) Hand B. “Denadh Críosd comuirle a mathar”, 31 quatrains. Continued at folio 13 recto by hands A and B. Ends folio 13 verso, line 3 (hand B). Folio 12 verso, margin: ‘Do (?)cheadgradh is do ben’, 1 quatrain. (hand B); ‘Leaba cumhand is hi caol’, 1 quatrain (hand A); ‘tabair mo bennacht ann so’ (hand L, upside-down). (Folio 12 verso, middle of the page.)

(xxix) Vellum leaf, full width but wedge-shaped i.e. 7.5 centimetres, high at spine, extending to 13.5 centimetres at outer edge. (Folio 13.)

(xxx) Folio 13 recto, see above.

(xxxi) Hand C: (a) ‘James Biettonne est huius libris possessor ...’ (b) ‘James’.

(xxxii) Hand M: (a) ‘Misi Giolla Colum Maigbeath’; (b) ‘Cing Airtuir mac Iubhair noco Cuchuloinn mauc Soaldamh Uladh go fear an uearla uinn on Bhoinn’. The hand of (b) also strongly resembles that of Brian Ó Siaghail, Laud Misc. 615, pages 139-140.

(xxxiii) Hand N: (a) ‘...onaty of dunagall’. (b) ‘beinnacht o giolla chol... maig beath go’.

(xxxiv) Hand H, upside-down: (a) ‘natiuitas Johannis Maig Beath 1596 / hic liber est meus possuis produieri’. (b) ‘Misi Eoin’.

(xxxv) In addition there are monograms and scrawls in various anonymous hands. (Folio 13 verso.)

(xxxvi) Paper stub, 16 x 2 centimetres, maximum. (Folio 14.)

(xxxvii) Folio 14 recto blank.

(xxxviii) Hand D(?): ‘Dia maille re fear an leab[air]’. (Folio 14 verso.)

(xxxix) Paper leaf, 16 x 4 centimetres, maximum. (Folio 15.)

(xl) Hand G: (a) ‘...an in mynd’. (b) ‘O man in myd remember yis and morne neked and neked most returne finis amen’.

(xli) Hand D: ‘O man in mynd remember thi and mor / O man in mynd remember yis and mourne neaked’. Hand K imitates ‘mourne’. (Folio 15 recto.)

(xlii) Hand O: “In my defenc god my de / In dei nomine amen”. Hand K imitates ‘ei no’.

(xliii) Hand P: (a) ‘Deana Crist mo choimhed’, 1 quatrain. (b) ‘amen amen fegearlin mor fe’. (Folio 15 verso.)

(xliv) Cover. (Folio 16.)